Throughout the tri-state region, people are weighing in on substantial changes being pursued by state and federal governments.
A week ago today, people in an overflow crowd in Franklin County, Iowa, told Republican U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley they were frustrated over sweeping cuts to federal agencies, programs and services.
Earlier this week, more than 17,000 people listened to a virtual town hall meeting with Omaha-area Republican Congressman Don Bacon.
That’s the largest audience of any event Bacon has hosted since taking office in 2017. He said he averages around 6,000 people for virtual town halls and 300-400 at in-person events.
Bacon was asked questions regarding cuts to government agencies like the Department of Education, National Weather Service and U.S. Postal Service.
Bacon said the method of mass firings and program cuts by Elon Musk, instead of by cabinet secretaries, was the wrong move.
The general ire around DOGE and proposed spending cuts was similar to what was expressed during Nebraska Congressman Mike Flood’s in-person town hall in Columbus.
In a Henry County meeting in eastern Iowa on Thursday, constituents urged Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks to stand up against cuts to things like veterans’ affairs and Medicaid. Miller-Meeks was not part of that meeting.
Regarding weighing in on state-level decisions, University of Northern Iowa students gathered to protest Governor Kim Reynolds’s policies.
Reynolds was there for a ribbon cutting Friday morning on campus. A bill headed to the governor’s desk would require many people covered by Medicaid expansion in Iowa to work in order to keep their coverage.
Adam Koresh, a UNI student who holds a job and relies on Medicaid for healthcare, was concerned about what will happen if the governor signs the bill into law.
“There’s nothing in the bill right now that gives protection for students in college, people in on-the-job training, or caregivers for their own family members. It’s all up to the head of HHS, and I have a problem with that,” Koresh said.
Students also voiced concerns about Iowa’s law removing civil rights protections for gender identity.
*Siouxland Community Health Center officials are not commenting Friday on the possible impact from large cuts of employees in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which was announced Thursday morning.
DHHS will lay off 10,000 workers and shut down entire agencies, including some that oversee billions of dollars in funds for addiction services and community health centers.
Grant funding from the federal Health Center Program grant funding was used to open the clinic in Sioux City in 1992, to address the populations with limited access to health care within the community.
*Additionally, the first week of absentee voting is complete for residents of North Sioux City to pick officeholders for a new style of municipal government being put in place.
North Sioux City is converting a commission, with four commissioners and a mayor. People are voting on weekdays, up through the final day on April 8, when the winners will be determined.
People who want to do early absentee voting can carry that out at city hall in North Sioux City. City officials did not return a call seeking to learn how many early votes had been cast through Friday in North Sioux City, a town with a population of 2,500.
There are a combined 10 people running for the five positions.
*In other news, the Woodbury County Democratic Party Central Committee this week elected a new team of officers for the next two years.
Ryan Akerberg was elevated from a communications position to party chairman, and Penny Rosfjord is vice chairwoman. Akerberg said a key thrust will be to carry out community engagement and effective candidate recruitment over the longer election cycle, not just at the end as elections near.
Dave Dawson was the chairman the last two years for the Woodbury County Democratic Party.
